A Motley Crew
by muse of the pen
Summary: Present day Dorothy AKA Dory ends up in Oz on a quest to save a world she isn't even sure exists. With the help of Waldo, Belthazar, Russel & Radar her dog, her adventure promises to be a memorable one. I do not own wizard of Oz. Just having fun. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Waldo shook from head to toe with fear as he was drug down the stone corridors of Queen Serena's dark castle. He had been locked up for several days in the dungeons with no food or water. It seemed now his punishment was upon him. He had transgressed the green skinned queen by not joining the conquering army to the Emerald City. He hadn't joined because he had been afraid of war and battle. Now he had never been more terrified in his entire life. The evil, bat like, demon's she had serving her pulled him through the door into her thrown room like dead weight and threw him down on the stone floor in front of her thrown. Horrible faces were carved into it. Faces in agony.

"Waldo, isn't it?" She sneered. Waldo started at her pointy, high heeled boots and traveled up to her green skinned face. She had wild black hair falling all around her. He flinched at her voice. He didn't bother to respond. He knew it would make no difference in the end.

"My men say they found you hiding in a ditch. They checked their listings and you were not on them. So you aren't a deserter. What are you, then? A coward, that's for sure, but what else?" Waldo was shaking so hard he wondered if she could hear his heart pounding as though it meant to escape his chest. He couldn't answer her.

"I'm looking for a group of four. Have you seen them maybe? A metal man, a werlion, a brainless oaf and girl?" Waldo shook his head no, stammering he had seen no such group.

"My sister made an interesting prophecy a week ago. She said a spineless little girl was going to kill her and in turn kill me and stop me from my plans. She told me that this little girl would be aided by a cowardly, heartless, brainless lot. Tell me. Do you know of such a group?" she shouted, growing more agitated by the second. Waldo shook and stammered again.

"this is the prophecy" And the queen recited it.

Companions four they will be.

A young girl in the midst of three.

Lacking in brains is just the start

She is accompanied by

A man of metal and a lions heart

The first in a field a fire she will yield

The second an axe he will wield

The last in a cave she will save

With her friends she will be brave

She comes to vanquish the green queens

And the wizard of Oz in

The Emerald City Gleams.

"I'm sorry I don't know what it means." Waldo was sobbing now.

"You are a right little coward aren't you? An example it seems must be made," She bent down so that her eyes were level with his. It was then that he saw the knife.

"Just a little scarecrow aren't you? You know what we do with cowards and traitors don't you? Hold him!" she shouted at her guards. And then she was upon him knife in hand. She cut across his face as he screamed and begged and pleaded. She cut a stitch work pattern across his mouth ranging across his face from ear to ear. There was bloodlust in her eyes.

Finally she stood back from him covered in blood, still looking deranged.

"Dress him as a scarecrow and take him to the field. Let everyone who travel's the brick road know he is a coward as is our way." She then stalked away her boots clacking on the stone floor.

Waldo was shaking worse now and felt nauseous. He could feel the exposed wounds on his face. The demons came forward and dragged him across the floor and back down to the dungeons where he was stripped and then redressed in the clothing of a scarecrow and beaten brutally. He lost consciousness after a while. When he awoke he was being hung on a pole in the middle of what used to be a cornfield. Other poles scattered the way each with skeleton's hung from them and more littering the ground beneath them. There were at least three beneath his own pole. He was going to die and he knew it. He would be left to hang, his wounds open and exposed and crows eating his brains. Waldo the scarecrow wept bitterly.

Back in her Tower the witch Serena consulted her orb. She had to know who this girl was and how she planned to unseat her from her proper thrown. The Emerald City was to be hers, and no others. She was expecting her sister's ruby ring anytime now to come into her possession. Of course that could only happen if her sister died, but that was only a small price to pay. The ring would grant her the power she needed. It had all been planned and then this stupid prophecy had come up. She had worked to hard for to long not to get what she wanted and to be undermined by a little girl. The scarecrow boy hadn't known anything, and she felt that she knew he wouldn't. She just wanted to maim something to let her frustrations out. Once she had her rubies she could work the spell that would kill the old Wizard and give her control over all of Oz and the Emerald City. Peering into the orb, she saw a cyclone. Frustrated she got up and threw an urn. What did a twister have to do with anything? She needed answers.

Ok. SO this is my prologue for my Wizard of Oz story. I've renamed some of the characters, for those of you who thought the witch should be named Elphaba from Wicked. I've never seen the play and the book was dreadful. I tried to read it and it bored me. So I'm sorry if it's not compatible. This is my own little modern day twist on the story. It's not a Dorathy's descendent type deal. It's the same old plot just a different story line. I plan on making it darker than the old classic. I hope you like it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Twister

It was the worst day ever, and that was saying something for Dory. She had gotten into trouble at school in an attempt to get out of going to the dance this evening and still hadn't succeeded. It was ridiculous. Her aunt was still going to stuff her in a stupid puffy dress and send her. All she wanted to do was sit at home and read a book. Why was that such a crime?

She kicked through her aunts garden gate in the late afternoon heat and headed up onto the porch of the old country house dragging her feet. Her aunt met her inside the screen door.

"Dory, this has to stop. You have got to go out and do something other than sit at home on a Friday night.. Prom is a high school wright of passage. Why are you so against going? You will have Jack and Ben and Josh there with you. It can't be all that bad." Dory let out a loud, exasperated sigh.

"I can't dance, and I don't want to go. It's just an excuse for bottle blonde cheerleaders and their football player boyfriends to practically have sex on the dance floor. Excuse me if I don't wanna watch my classmates conduct their own orgy" she retorted.

"Dory!" her aunt reproached her.

"What it's true! They swap saliva in the halls now, what makes you think they won't do that? Can't I just sit at home on the couch with my book?" she whined.

"You're going. End of discussion." Her aunt told her.

"AUHG!" Dory yelled before, pushing past her aunt, into the house and stomping up the stairs to her room. Her little, white, mutt, Radar, rushed to greet her bouncing up and down excitedly at seeing her, his large ears standing at attention. Dory spotted the light blue, puffy dress hung on her closet door. With another sigh , she fell across the bed in defeat. It had bits of tulle poking out from under it. Puffy indeed. Radar nuzzled her hand begging for attention. She pet him and played with him, finally scooping him up into a hug and smothering him with kisses. He wouldn't have made her go to a stupid prom.

Dory had a plain bedroom with a simple patchwork quilt on an old fashioned, brass bed, flowered wallpaper adorned the walls and lace curtains fluttered in the afternoon breeze. She had a couple of bookshelves crammed with novels a large mirror over a vanity and a computer on the desk in the corner. It wasn't much but it had been her haven for the last 2 years. She had originally come from one of the larger cities of Kansas, but had moved out here with her aunt the summer of freshman year. Now she was a senior at the local high school. Classes hadn't changed, and neither did the student body.

Dory could hear her aunt yelling from down stairs to get ready. With another sigh, she drug herself off the bed and got into the shower. After a quick rinse off she put her hair up in a towel and after yanking her underwear out of Radars mouth and finding a new pair she pulled on the dress . Her aunt might could make her go but she was going on her own terms, Dory thought as she pulled a pair of gym shorts on under the dress. It was knee length with a black sash that tied in a bow at her waist and black tulle

poked out underneath it. She slipped on her black flats and loosely braided her brown hair into a side twist. The straps kept sliding off of her shoulders.

"Hell at least it's not pink" She muttered to herself looking into her mirror. She hated dresses. Petting Radar on the head she grabbed the little beaded bag that went with the dress and headed down the stairs to meet her aunts approval.

"See, it's not that bad," her aunt got up off the floral couch and headed towards her from the living room.

"Can I please stay home?" Dory begged again.

"No, end of discussion. Most kids beg to go out on a Friday night? I don't understand why you are so against going out."

"It's just not my scene. I would rather go to chill in the barn or read a book in bed." Dory said.

"Well you need to go out and have some fun,"

"That is fun, Aunt Em!" Dory tried to explain. Her aunt laughed at her and grabbed her own purse.

"Come on, kid. I'll drive you to your doom," She said laughing. Dory rolled her eyes, but followed her aunt out to the old ford truck and climbed in. The ride to the school wasn't long and Dory usually walked home on nice days, like today. It wasn't but a 20 minute walk at a leisurely pace. They were there within 5 minutes. Dory could hear the pounding music coming from the gym on the curb. The school had been decked out with flowers and balloons everywhere. It was enough to make her feel sick.

"Try to have a good time. I know it's not your ideal scene but it will be fun if you give it a chance." Her aunt told her.

Dory just rolled her eyes and climbed out of the truck her stomach quivering slightly. She hated big crowds, loud music and annoying teenagers. And that's all that was here. She slipped through the double doors and into the schools lobby that led into the cafeteria. There was a long buffet style table set up with round tables scattered through out the room with LED candles on them and glittering stars. More hung from the ceilings along with balloons. Flashing lights could be seen through the door to the gym where the student body was busy grinding on one another. Again, she felt betrayed by her aunt to be forced here. She spotted her 3 best friends standing just inside the door and made her way to them and shouting a greeting. Jack looked like he was about to have a seizure.

"Wow! You look great Dory! Who knew?" Jack shouted at her over the noise of the music.

"You know I hate this crap!" she shouted back. It was hot in there. All the students made the temperature soar. She could already feel sweat trickling down her back. Thankfully in the next moment a slower song came on and the constant loud beat toned down. Jack, Ben and josh all stood around looking as awkward as Dory felt. Josh had recently been dumped by his girlfriend and wasn't feeling very comfortable at all seeing her dancing with another guy, and Ben. Poor Ben was more like a robot than anything. He didn't do big crowds either. Jack was brimming with excitement though. He was a geek at best and wanted so bad to be a part of the in crowd and just be accepted. They had all been friends since Dory had first arrived out here. She hadn't gotten along with anyone else. It had started with Jack asking her out, and her turning him down. She had decided to be his friend though. He was sweet and loveable and if not a little accident prone.

"You wanna dance, Dory? Just a slow dance. You don't even have to do anything, " He said to her in a more normal tone. Dory looked at his earnest face in the flashing lights and took pity on him.

"All right one dance, And then I'm done!" She told him. He pulled her onto the floor and they swayed in time to Seether's song Broken. It wasn't as uncomfortable as Dory would have liked it to be. It was kind of nice. Which kind of ruined her excuse to end it. Another couple shoved past them knocking her into her friend. He was about the same height as her and nearly stumbled under their combined weight. He caught her, wrapping his arms a little tighter around her waist to steady her.

"Sorry," she told him.

"Don't be," Dory smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder for the rest of the song. It was indeed a very nice moment and she was sad to see it end. Just as the next fast song was picking up the music stopped and the principal got on the mike.

"Everyone, I apologize but it appears there has been a tornado spotted in this area. I'm going to have to ask you all to move calmly into the hallway adjacent the office."

Dory felt her stomach squelch down. Tornadoes were deadly out here, and her aunt was home alone. She let go of Jacks hand and started with the rest of the crowd to the doors, but instead of heading for the hall she ran for the double doors leading outside. She heard Jack, Ben and Josh shout for her to come back but she kept running. Outside she could tell the wind had definitely picked up. In the opposite direction of her house she could see a funnel forming. She ran for home. If she was fast enough she could beat the storm, and get her aunt and herself into the cellar. Within 15 minutes she could see the house. The wind was roaring in her ears and nearly knocked her over a half a dozen times. The closer she got the worse the storm became. No lights were on in the house and the screen door was swinging wildly in the wind. The huge oak tree in the yard was nearly bent parallel in the wind. She felt something scratch her legs and looked down to see her dog Radar clawing trying to catch her attention. She reached down and scooped him up barely missing being struck in the head by a wayward branch. She struggle to get the old garden gate open and up the porch steps and into the house. The screen door flew off the hinges and into the storm as she tried to get the main door open . She finally succeeded getting in and slamming it shut. She raced through the dark house shouting for her Aunt. She fell going up the stairs and banged her knee but continued on. Her aunt wasn't in her room. Radar was crying and shaking, terrified of the loud winds.

Dory had just checked her own room and was getting ready to head down to the cellar herself when the wind knocked her own window out and into her knocking her unconscious. She fell across the bed and Radar sat next to her whining and crying . The place spun back and forth her furniture moving around and crashing into one another. It finally all ended with a loud crash. The world stopped spinning and Dory slowly came too.


End file.
